What messes have you been motivated to clean or organize at home during the pandemic? Have you given some attention to your technology, too?

If you’re facing a storage shortage on any of your devices or in the cloud, or are concerned about security from prying eyes, now is an excellent time to do an assessment. Here are a few steps to take before calling me for help. First though, make sure to run a backup just in case you end up deleting something you actually need.

Check Storage Usage

If you use macOS Sierra (10.12) or later, visit  > About This Mac > Storage > Manage. [In macOS Ventura 13 and later, go to System Settings > General > Storage.] Give your Mac a moment to assess how much storage is used by various categories.

Some areas you might be able to clean include:

  • iOS Files — Backups of iOS devices, which you can manage in iTunes Preferences or the Finder, depending on your macOS. If you find a backup from the not-too-recent past or of a device you no longer use, it’s probably safe to delete.
  • Music Creation — These are files to support GarageBand, a music creation app. If you neither use GarageBand nor plan to pick it up soon, you can remove these files (and the app as well). You can always download them again in the future if you wish.
  • System/Other — If these categories take up more than 30GB, I would be concerned and recommend we take a deep dive to find out why. There are a number of utilities that can help identify hidden storage users. One I like is DaisyDisk.

Generally, your Mac will slow to a crawl when it has less than 5–10% free space. You can identify storage usage similarly on iOS devices in Settings > General > iDevice Storage.

Consolidate & Organize Files

Do you have a system for keeping your files organized? Do you keep your Downloads folder clean? What do you do with email attachments after you’ve consumed them?

I recommend a categorical filing system that has you thinking about the primary domains of your life so you can logically organize your files among them. Pictured above are the categories in which I file most personal items on my Mac.

My Files is my folder in Documents that contains all these folders and as you can see there are no stray, uncategorized documents there. In any folder that has more than about a dozen files, there are subfolders that further organize the items by topic or association.

For Downloads, I recommend filing or deleting these items immediately after initial consumption. Downloads should not be a waystation for random items with which you haven’t decided yet what to do.

And for email attachments, if you use Mail and want to keep a message body but don’t need the attachment(s), you can remove them using the command at the bottom of the Message menu.

Scan for Malware

Weird things happening on your Mac? Seeing undesired ads or popups? Either way, it’s a good idea to periodically scan for malware.

I used to recommend Malwarebytes, but I’ve changed my preference to Intego VirusBarrier Scanner. This free utility doesn’t bug you about upgrading to a premium service and effectively scans your whole Mac for issues.

Although it doesn’t run continuously in the background, you can set it to automatically scan daily. I consider periodic scans sufficient for most users who maintain high awareness of their online activities.

[Update: As of 2023, I find both Malwarebytes and VirusBarrier Scanner are helpful utilities to have on hand. I recommend scanning your computer every few months or whenever you experience suspicious activity.]

While these are good places to start your assessment, there are plenty more areas to check on your devices, from email, pictures, and cloud storage to files left over from apps you no longer use.

You’ll find various resources online about how and where to look, though personally I think you’ll be more efficient scheduling a session with me. We can jump through the hoops in an hour or less to recover space and help you get better acquainted.

If you’re interested, give me a call or jot an email (but please don’t just click reply to a Mac Mondays email).